iLearn to Dance
by Smileys
Summary: iOMG never happened. Freddie and Sam are paired up to ballroom dance in gym class. Seddie, of course!
1. Chapter 1

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

Carly was pacing in her living room getting madder and madder with each step. Spencer watched her for a few minutes and finally asked, "What's got your panties in a bunch, little sis?"

"Sam!" she yelled. "You'd think I'd be used to this by now but sometimes it really ticks me off! She was supposed to come home with me from school so we could go to Build a Bra together and I haven't seen her." Just then Sam sauntered in the door. "Where have you been!" Carly demanded.

"Cool your jets, Carls, I got detention." she said with a grimace.

"How could you have gotten detention? I saw you right before gym and that was your last class and it's the only class you like, go to and ace every semester. And you love it even more this semester because you get to throw dodge balls, basketballs, baseballs, footballs, volley balls and kick soccer balls at Freddie's head. You really should be nicer to him, you know." she said.

"Nicer to the nub? I haven't killed him yet, have I? How much nicer do you expect me to be? Wait, don't answer. I might just have to kill him to get through the next two weeks." she groaned.

"What up in the next two weeks?" Carly asked.

"It's why I got detention. We're learning ballroom dancing in gym. That's not a sport! Why do we have to waste good sport time learning to" Sam faked gagging "ballroom dance! Any way, I got detention for tying Mr. Williams to the goal post and pantsing him in front of the whole class." she explained.

"Whoa! You did that to him just because you're going to have to learn to dance? I thought you liked him." she asked.

"Not just dance but ballroom dance! Who does that kind of dancing now any way? Plus, I already learned to dance for the pageants so why do I have to learn more dancing? And that wasn't the worst part. We'd just finished a slammin' game of soccer, I nailed Freddie in the head three times, when has the girls line up by height and then has the boys do the same. Then he paired us off by height with our dance partner for the next two whole weeks. Carly, he paired me up with Freddie!" she cried.

Carly bit the inside of her cheek, hard. She knew if she laughed Sam would never forgive her. "Is Freddie such a horrible dancer?" she asked with a mostly straight face.

"CAR-LY! He's Freddie! I can't spend the next two weeks ballroom dancing with a dork! He'll get his nerd cooties all over me!" she cried.

"So skip class, like you do with your other classes." Carly suggested. Wow, maybe I am spending too much time with Sam, she thought to herself.

Sam rolled her eyes and heaved a big sigh, "No, I can't. I need that A in gym. It's what brings my grade point average up enough to get passed to the next grade. I hate school and if I flunk I'll have to spend a whole extra year repeating the same grade. No way, I'm not spending another year in school! But do I have to dance, and ballroom dance at that, with a geek? ARGH!"

MONDAY AFTERNOON

"Cha cha, foxtrot, swing, tango and, lastly, the waltz are the dances we are going to attempt to learn. You never know when the knowledge might come in handy and it's good exercise to dance. So find your partner and get ready to cha cha!" called out Mr. Williams.

Sam stood right where she was. She had no intention of finding Freddie. She hated Freddie, the nub. Freddie cautiously stepped in line next to Sam. She smirked. He looked scared. Good, let him be scared, it might make things easier for me she thought.

"Gentlemen, put your right hand on your partners left side and hold her right hand out away from your bodies." Mr. Williams instructed.

A nervous Freddie turned to Sam who had a frightening scowl on her face. "You'd better watch where you put those hands, Fredweird, or you might lose them!" she warned.

Freddie slowly, so as to not enrage the blond demon, put his hand on her left side and held his left hand out for her to hold. She hesitated a moment and then reached out to hold Freddie's offered hand. Whoa, that was weird, when she took Freddie's hand it felt like a static shock but not quite. What was that? She put her left hand up on his shoulder and could feel how tense his shoulder muscles were. She took secret pleasure in that, he was so scared of her. That was a good thing, keep him as far away from her as possible. The closest she ever wanted to be to the dork was when there was a camera between them and only then because they needed the tech nerd for iCarly. The whole thing was a disaster. Freddie was nervous and stiff as a board trying to learn to dance, something that did not come natural to him, and trying to learn without making Sam mad just made him more jittery. Sam was too mad and stubborn to put any effort into it and yelled at Freddie every time he stepped on her toes. Finally, class was over! Mr. Williams told them if they wanted to pass the ballroom dance portion of gym they'd better get over dancing with each other and really apply some effort. Sam shot Freddie a deathly stare after hearing that comment from the teacher and he scurried off to the lockers to get away from her.

Later at Carly's she and Sam were dishing on the boys. Carly had a new crush. She liked Logan, he had just moved to Seattle a few months ago. Sam couldn't see what she would like about him. Well, actually Sam didn't see anything she herself would like about the boy but he was perfect for Carly. He was tall and blond and good looking and dressed well and was a good student and athlete too. Sam considered him a 'pretty boy' without an ounce of delinquent rebel in him, how boring! But it would be nice for Carly to have a boyfriend that lasted for more than one or two dates, she never had had a real boyfriend, just boys she went on a date or two with before they proved themselves to be too weird or life interrupted and took them away from her. Except for Steven, he seemed to be great but he really just took longer to prove himself unworthy. Her best friend deserved better. Sam lamented to her friend how awful gym had been and the teachers warning after class.

"Bummer, Sam. Maybe you'd better really try on this one." she said.

"But I don't wanna!" she cried.

"Suck it up, Sam, it's only two weeks and it's only Freddie. It's not like he's really going to 'infect' you with his nerd cooties and change you into a nerd. You'll still be yourself when it's over but you need that A in gym class." Carly reminded her.

"I know, I know" she whined. "I really do. But how can we learn to dance together when he's stiff as a board and I hate being that near him?"

"Don't kill me for suggesting it but maybe you could practice outside class?" she offered. "Freddie's lap top has all the music you might need and the studio has the lights to help set the mood for dancing and more than enough space."

Sam shuddered at the thought of dancing with Freddie. Maybe she could pretend he was someone else and get through the dancing if he could just relax around her. She really needed that A. For the first time she wished she'd applied herself a bit more in her other classes so she wouldn't be in the pickle she was in now. Having to dance with Freddie the dork, what had her life come to? And now she'd have to convince him she wasn't going to murder him if they danced outside of class in the studio. Wait a minute... murder him... that idea had merit. Oh wait, Carly would be really mad at her and she'd forever be pursued by an enraged, whacko Mrs. Benson if she murdered Freddie. Plus Mr. Williams would just assign her some other geek to dance with. "Fine!" she huffed. "I'll just have to dance even more with" Sam gulped "Freddifer to get through this. But when I pass I want a ham and bacon dinner to celebrate!"

"Yes, Sam, if you don't hurt Freddie and you do pass dancing, I will throw you a ham and bacon dinner. Deal?" she asked.

"Deal." she grumbled. "Now go call the nerd to come over."

Up in the studio about a half hour later the three stood around awkwardly. "You sure this is safe?" Freddie asked Carly.

"I already told you Fredwina, I'm not going to hurt you." Sam growled.

"Sam promised not to hurt you while you are up here dancing." Carly said.

"What about coming to the studio and leaving when we're done, is that safe for me too?" he asked warily. He knew Sam well enough to be very specific about all points of any deal.

Carly looked over at Sam "Do you promise?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever! Let's just get this over with." she grumbled.

All three watched a couple of You Tube videos on dancing the cha cha and then Freddie and Sam tried it again. Freddie was still quite tense. He had good reason to not trust Sam. But he did relax a bit more than when trying to dance at school. Carly watched and made pointers to help them out. She'd always thought they'd make a perfect couple if they could just make the initial break through. Sam didn't trust anyone but Carly. It was obvious to Carly that she picked on Freddie mercilessly because she liked him but was afraid of her feelings. Freddie must like her some or he wouldn't hang around the two girls and endure her torment so often. They danced the cha cha for a few more songs until they had it down pretty well and then the couple stopped and immediately went to different corners of the room as far away from each other as they could get and still be in the same room. Carly rolled her eyes. They had been dancing, not boxing. No need to go to your separate corners!


	2. Chapter 2

TUESDAY AFTERNOON

In the iCarly studio Sam and Freddie watched some videos on how to dance the fox trot. Mr. Williams had been impressed with the improvement they had made on the cha cha. Neither was exactly relaxed dancing with each other but they did a lot better than the day before. They had decided to meet in the studio every night for the two weeks they had dance classes for gym. Freddie didn't want to wreck his straight A record and Sam certainly didn't want to flunk and have to repeat a year of school. They decided to dance the cha-cha to a couple songs to warm up and get in the groove and then they'd try the fox trot. They watched the fox trot videos and picked a few songs to dance to. They were old boring songs but Sam admitted they had some bounce to them that was not too awful to dance along with.

Once again when she took Freddie's hand to start dancing the cha cha, Sam felt that jolt that was like electricity. What up with that? Is Freddie some sort of alien with electricity running through him? Obviously that was just a mean flight of fancy for Sam's mind. She'd beat on Freddie enough to know that wasn't true. But she really was curious about that jolt. They warmed up with the cha cha and then tried the fox trot. According to the videos you are supposed to hold your partner closer than the cha cha. Sam was nervous about that. No one ever held her close and she wasn't used to that. And it was embarrassing to have Freddie hold her that close. Thankfully it wasn't body touching close but it was close enough to be uncomfortable for awhile. They fumbled through a few songs, mostly looking at their feet, and got the basics of the fox trot down. After a little while they took a break.

"Sam, are you done with your bacon break yet?" Freddie asked.

"Mmmmm, almost. Why?" she said.

"I'd like to try a couple more dances before we quit for the night." he said.

"Uh, sure." Sam was confused. This was Freddie, the nub. And they were working on something for school, which she hated. So why was she looking forward to a few more dances, for school work, with Freddie? Freddie was waiting with his arms outstretched and Sam felt a weird feeling in her stomach. For some reason the sight of Freddie waiting to dance with her was appealing. Was she getting sick? Hallucinating? Would she feel that jolt again when she took his hand? She went over to him and slowly took his offered hand. Whoa! Not only the jolt but a funny feeling in her stomach too but she liked it. What was going on? Sam pushed these thoughts aside and concentrated on dancing. Now that they had the steps down pretty well and found some not ancient music that would work for the fox trot they actually kind of enjoyed themselves. Being it was the second night of dancing and not getting abused Freddie was beginning to relax around Sam.

Freddie went home to finish his homework and shower, remembering to 'double poo' his hair. Sam hung out in Carly's living room waiting for Carly to get home from her date with Logan. She watched some old episodes of Girly Cow and ate a can of peaches. Man, Spencer really needed to go grocery shopping. Sam's mind was working over the events of the evening. Why was her stomach fluttering when she was with Freddie and why would she be looking forward to dancing with him again? Was it possible that she was actually beginning to like Freddie? Frednub the weird? She had better taste than to fall for a dork, didn't she? Ok, try to think about it logically, Sam thought. What were the signs of being attracted to someone? Did she like looking at him? She thought of his buff chest and neat, if nerdy, clothes, his gorgeous thick dark hair, his fabulous smile and soft brown eyes. Yikes, where did that description come from? Huh, go figure, she did think Freddie was pretty good looking. Did she want to be around him and touch him? She wasn't sure about wanting to be around him, she just always seemed to be around him most of the time for years now. Ok then, if he wasn't around would she miss him? Sam was shocked and scared to realize, yes, she would miss him. Ok, that was enough thinking for now, she'd gone into scary territory she didn't want to think about. Time to pull back and watch something stupid on tv. With relievingly convenient timing, Carly showed up just then overflowing with details of her date with Logan.

"Sam, I'm so glad you are here! Tonight was great! Logan took me out to the park!" she said excitedly.

"What? The park? How boring. No food there, no music, nothing to do, no other people..." Sam was confused how the park could be so great.

"That was the whole point, Sam. He brought a picnic of snacks and drinks and we just sat and snacked while we talked and got to know each other. He doesn't live with his parents either. His dad took off before he was born and his mom is pretty irresponsible so he's been raised by his grandmother. They moved here from Minnesota to get away from the horrid winters there. I'm not sure so much rain is better than snow but he assures me it is. He says 'better wet than white' about our weather. We just talked about movies and school and friends and family and all sorts of things. When we were done with our snacks we walked around the park. It was twilight and we had the park almost to ourselves. I wanted to swing for a while so we did, I haven't been on swings in years and it was great. We even climbed to the top of the jungle gym dome and sat up there looking at the stars and trying to find the constellations. It was way better than a noisy restaurant followed by a movie where you're not allowed to talk. I loved it!" she exclaimed.

Sam shrugged, "Sounds boring to me but if you're happy then I'm happy for you."

"Oh yeah, I'm happy." she said with a smile. "Is Freddie happy to still be alive or did you kill him tonight?"

"Fredifer is just fine, probably getting a tick bath from mama Benson." Sam laughed.

"Did you learn the fox trot?" Carly asked.

"I think we did fine for one night." she said evasively. She was still working hard not to think about her feelings for him. Time to change the subject, "Are you going to see Logan again any time soon?"

"We're going to a concert on Saturday night." she crowed.

"Nothing before then?" Sam asked.

"Nah, we've really got to rehearse tomorrow for the show on Thursday. Then Friday his football practice runs later and then he is taking his grandmother out for dinner." she explained.

"Hmmmm how do we fit dancing in with iCarly?" Sam wondered.

"No biggie. You can dance after our rehearsal tomorrow and, uh, maybe before the show? I can get Gibby to help me set up for the show to free up some time for you and Freddie."

"Thanks. That should work. I should get going, see ya tomorrow." she said as she got up and left for home.

WEDNESDAY EVENING

"Then you pull the meatballs out of the cow's nose and eat them." Carly said with a grimace.

"And you sign off with 'Have a good week: take a leak, kiss a beak, trip a geek and come back next week!' I think that about does it, we're ready for tomorrow except to make the little meatballs. Who's making the meatballs?" Sam asked.

"Spencer is picking up some pre-made meatballs at the store tomorrow." Carly replied.

"Make sure he gets the kind with extra gravy, way tastier and it will look like snot." Sam said.

"Ewww Gross, Sam!" Carly said with a shudder.

Sam started to feel nervous. Rehearsal was over and it was time to do some dancing. She was still afraid of how her reactions to Freddie seemed to be changing. She had effectively managed to not think about it for a whole day but now it was time to actually dance with Freddie, be near him, touch him. She realized she wanted to be close to him and touch him and it scared her. Maybe it would be easier with Carly there, someone to break the tension.

"How's this song for practicing the fox trot?" Freddie asked turning on the music he had downloaded for the evenings practice session.

"Old but kinda nice. How did you two do in gym class today?" Carly asked.

"We did ok, we got a couple of the moves wrong last night when we were learning off of the internet videos so we had to back up and relearn some of it. Shall we?" he asked holding his hand out to Sam.

Sam's stomach got fluttery and her heart beat faster. She took Freddie's offered hand and felt the now familiar jolt and liked the feeling. She went very willingly into his arms. They were a long way from dancing smoothly and spent a lot of time glancing down at their feet but they were making progress. It was weird for Sam to let Freddie push her around. Ok, he was the guy so he was 'leading' the dance but to Sam it felt like he was pushing her around the floor. She had to work to not take the lead, try to stay relaxed and let Freddie lead.

After the first song ended Carly said it looked strange when they turned to the left. Sam was doing something weird with her right leg. They tried the move again and Sam thought it felt awkward too but she wasn't sure what she was doing.

"Let me try it and you can see how I do it." Carly offered.

"Ok, can you first do what I'm doing and then try it another way so I can see the difference?" Sam asked.

"I can try. Hey, Freddie, can you record with the tripod camera and we can watch it on video?" she suggested.

Freddie walked over to the steady cam and pointed it down just a bit and zoomed out some so it would be more on their legs then faces. Then he hit the record button and went around in front of the camera to try the steps with Carly. She just tried the steps the way that felt right to her and then tried, unsuccessfully, to repeat what Sam had been doing. Sam watched Carly and Freddie dancing together. They were close together with arms somewhat around each other. Sam didn't like it. She didn't like it at all. It felt wrong, she had trouble watching the steps they were trying to show her and had to restrain herself from breaking in on them and getting them to stop. It made her feel awful to see her two best friends dance. What was worse was she realized why it felt wrong to see them dance. She was jealous. Oh chiz, she really did like Freddie! Now when did this disgusting development occur? How was she going to handle it? For now she just stomped on her feelings and tried to concentrate on the task at hand, learning to dance. They watched the video, which still made her feel like breaking them apart, and they showed Sam the right way to do that left turn.

"Let's try it again and see if you can get it now." Freddie said.

"Sure, let's try it." Sam replied a little too quickly. She realized she sounded too eager to be getting close up to Freddie and doing homework. "The sooner we get it right the sooner we can go our separate ways" she said to cover her eagerness. She did like Freddie and she didn't want him dancing with Carly, she wanted him to be dancing with her! This time she looked forward to taking his hand and the jolt that came with it. And she enjoyed it when he put his hands on her as well. Keep a straight face, don't give anything away Sam thought to herself. She wasn't completely accepting of this revelation yet but she knew she didn't want to give anything away. They danced the fox trot for two more songs. Sam learned to dance it gracefully and Freddie was enjoying himself. Dancing was rather fun when you got the steps down and could just dance without thinking about it too much.


	3. Chapter 3

THURSDAY AFTERNOON

The bell rang to end gym class. They all stopped dancing and headed for their lockers. Freddie needed to grab his books so he could do his homework that night. Sam just needed to grab her jacket, why would she bother to lug home those heavy books? On the way out of the gym Freddie said "We did good today and it was kinda fun, don't you think?"

"It was ok. But a game of basketball would've been better." she told him. "So are we going to start to swing tonight?"

"Swing?" he asked thinking of the swings they had put up in the studio for Sam and Carly to swing on during one webcast. Then he remembered swing was the next dance they were going to learn. "Oh, yeah, swing dancing, sure."

"So we'll dance before iCarly?" she asked.

"Let's see how we do before the show and if we stink we can always try again after the show. Maybe Carly and Gibby can join us after the show so we don't have to dance alone." he suggested.

Sam was still scared of her feelings but she knew she wanted to be alone with Freddie after the show if they were going to dance some more. Before the show they'd be dancing while Carly and Gibby were getting the last minute set ups ready but after the show they didn't need to be there. "Carly has better taste than to be caught dancing with a Gibby! Maybe if Logan was there she'd enjoy a dance but not with Gibby." she said with a shudder.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want Tasha to catch wind of Gibby dancing with Carly and starting another misunderstood feud!" he laughed. "I've got to stop by the drugstore for my mom, see you at Carly's in a few hours." Freddie called as he headed out of the school.

THURSDAY EVENING

"Just be sure to avoid the kiddie pool of gravy, we need that for the webcast." Carly reminded Freddie and Sam.

"Mmmmmmm" said Sam

"No, you may not drink the pool, Sam." Carly said.

"Maybe after the webcast?" she asked hopefully.

"If you want to drink gravy with motor oil and plastic fish in it." she replied.

"Come on, let's give swing dancing a try. This video of it looks kind of fun." Freddie said.

After watching the video they walked through the different steps. Then Freddie turned on the music and they tried dancing to the music. Hey, it was quite fun. Swing dancing is upbeat and fast. They caught on really quick. They kept dancing until it was time for the show. After the webcast they all cleaned up the studio together, it was a pain scooping oily gravy out of the pool. Gibby's mom showed up to take him and Guppy to a movie. Carly went to her room to video chat with Logan.

"I think we did really well at swing dance and it was kinda fun. Do you want to practice some more?" Freddie asked.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Sam said calmly. She wanted to shout YES! The swing dance was fun and Freddie was really good at it now that he'd relaxed around Sam. Freddie set the music to play random songs and they started to dance. Whee, Sam was enjoying the dancing and being with Freddie. I can't believe I'm having fun dancing with Freddichini. I really like being close to him and I do like touching him and being in his arms. After a few songs the next random song turned out to be a slow song. Oh no, thought Sam, now what? Do we skip that song? Try to fox trot at a slow pace? Freddie put his hands on Sam's hips and brought her in closer. She was at a loss for what to do with her hands. She finally settled them on his shoulders. They slowly danced around the studio but Sam refused to look at Freddie while they did, that was just too intimate for Sam. The slow song ended and after a few more swing dances they called it a night.

SATURDAY NIGHT

Carly was at the Cuttlefish concert with Logan so Sam and Freddie had the studio to themselves. Sam was looking forward to the evening much more than the night before when Carly had been around and they had to take turns dancing with Freddie. They had moved ahead and tried the tango. It was awkward. It looks better when you are watching it than when you are trying to do it. Tonight, Freddie set the music to play random songs again. As each song started the duo decided what kind of dance went the best with that song. When the first slow song came on Freddie pulled Sam close and she put her hands around his neck. They mostly just swayed to the music, cheek to cheek. Sam began to wonder if Freddie didn't totally hate her. After all he was the one that set the songs that would play from his computer and set it to shuffle them and play slow songs as well as the faster songs more appropriate for cha cha, fox trot and swing as well as some that were ok for the tango. Why would he want to slow dance with her if he hated her? She was still terrified of letting him see she liked him. She didn't trust any one in this world other than Carly. Everyone else had let her down again and again. Her dad ran off, her mom was a loser that paid no attention to her, even her sister moved to the other side of the country to go to boarding school. She didn't think she could take it if she let Freddie know she liked him and he laughed at her for it. And she had given him plenty of reason to want to get her back for years of torture. Why had she constantly been mean to him? She knew she liked being mean to other kids. It helped take the sting out of her miserable life to spread that misery around. She knew that wasn't fair but it worked for her and she needed every edge she could get to survive in her awful world. But for years now she'd been meaner to Freddie than any other person around even though it had stopped being fun for her. So why did she keep being mean to him? After about an hour of dance practice Mrs. Benson came up to the studio to get Freddie for his weekly manicure and pedicure.

Sam headed home for the night. Carly wasn't around to borrow bus money from so she'd have to walk. She was thinking about Freddie. She'd been doing that an awful lot lately. There were some pretty major changes in her life and they all had to do with him. She liked him. LIKE liked him. Freddie, the tech nerd, was the object of Sam's affections. Well, she hadn't actually been affectionate towards him and didn't know how to go about doing that. How does one let someone know they like them 'that' way without actually saying it in words or really putting it all on the line and, say, trying to kiss them? And if Sam was going to do anything about her feelings she needed to do it in a way that left her a safe way out if Freddie didn't want anything to do with her that way. She couldn't have it be known to any one, especially Freddie, that she liked him and he rejected her. Too embarrassing! Sam had always tortured boys she liked. Very childish but she didn't know any other ways yet. She nearly tripped and fell when she realized she'd been torturing Freddie for years because she has liked him, for years! Sam thought about it for several blocks and she couldn't get away from it – she'd been abusing Freddie because she actually liked him. She hadn't even known it herself. Now what to do about it?

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights went much the same. An hour or two of dancing the different dances they had already learned and some slow songs thrown in too. Sam was liking the slower songs more and more and it seemed to her there were more of them each evening. Freddie's arms seemed to go around her quite naturally and she had started to thread her fingers up into the base of Freddie's hair. His hair was so soft and thick, Sam loved the feel of it. Tuesday night during one particularly slow song Sam couldn't help herself, she rested her head on Freddie's shoulder. It felt comfortable. Freddie didn't seem to mind.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT

"Gibby! You weren't supposed to actually bring the baby ducks over to rehearsal! What am I supposed to do with them until tomorrows show?" Carly exclaimed.

"No worries, I already filled Spencer's tub up for them to play in and made them a bed out of his towels and left a bowl of duck chow for them." he replied. "They're pretty messy but they should be fine until tomorrow."

"Just how messy are they?" she asked.

"It's ok, they're in the bathroom. How much damage could they do in one day?" he said.

"Fine, just take them down there while we finish up here." she said turning to Sam and Freddie. "You two going to stay and dance for awhile? I've got to get going as soon as we clean up the marshmallows, Logan is meeting me for a smoothie. I'll be back in an hour or two."

"Yeah, we're going to try the waltz. Just one more dance to learn so we can get our As in gym." Freddie said. As soon and they were done and Carly had left, he turned on the music, a classic waltz. Sam thought the music was really boring and lame. They learned the basic steps quick enough. It was when they tried to move around the floor doing those steps that they ran into trouble. There was a few instances of stepping on toes or nearly tripping over the other person but eventually they did a descent job of the dance. Then Freddie went to his computer and hit a key. The waltz music stopped and some really great slow song started to play. He held his hand out to Sam. She stepped up and took his hand, which he used to guide her hand up to his shoulders before curving his own around her small waist. This time she looked him right in the eye and they swayed slowly around the room. He just gave her a small smile and kept on dancing. He was getting really light on his feet and Sam didn't feel so much like she was being pushed around by him any more. It felt more like the music itself was guiding them. Sam played with the soft hair at the nape of his neck and Freddie pulled her close enough to lace his fingers together behind her back. Sam leaned in and rested her head on his shoulder like Carly had done in the Groovy Smoothie after the school dance. Sam loved Carly with all her heart but she wanted this shoulder to belong to her, not Carly. They floated around the room for several slow songs before the music stopped. The two just stood there in each others arms for a moment longer before breaking apart awkwardly.


	4. Chapter 4

THURSDAY NIGHT

Carly invited Logan to watch the show and then stay afterwards for a very small dance party, just the 4 of them. There was some ballroom dancing going on but mostly it was more modern dance. They were celebrating the end dancing in gym. The next day was the final day of dancing at school and Sam and Freddie were confident in their ballroom dancing skills. Sam was trying to enjoy the dancing but it was a bittersweet evening. She was enjoying the dancing part but inside she knew she was really going to miss dancing with Freddie. How could she tell him she liked him and wanted to date him and go to dances with him without embarrassing herself? Sam and Freddie showed off their ballroom dance moves and then much to everyone's surprise, Logan showed off his break dancing skills. People still did break dancing? Logan was really good at it. A good time was had by all but it was getting late. Carly walked Logan down to the bus stop and left Sam and Freddie alone in the studio. Freddie turned the soft music back on. "Care to have one more dance?" he asked.

Sam and Freddie glided around the room. They were really learning to dance well and read each others moves. She didn't want this dance to end. It would be their last slow dance ever. Tomorrow in class they'd have to dance each ballroom dance for their final test but they wouldn't be like this dance. This was sweet and slow and gentle and quietly private, just the two of them in a world of their own. It was so natural and seemed to be a part of the dance that Sam wasn't even sure how it happened. One second they were swaying with the music and the next second they swayed towards each other and their lips met. They both froze for a second, then their lips started to move and nibble and taste. They both tilted their heads to deepen the kiss and tightened the holds they had on each other. Sam experienced heaven on earth, nothing had ever felt this good, this right. Freddie's soft lips caressed hers again and again. When the song ended the couple broke apart, dazed. Just then Carly came back into the studio.

"You two still dancing?" she asked.

"Uh, no, we were just, uh, resetting the sound levels on his lap top." Sam stammered out. She was totally confused. What just happened? Did she kiss Freddie or did he kiss her? Ok, after the initial contact they were kissing each other but did he kiss her first? Did he have those sorts of feelings for her too?

Friday night, as promised, Carly threw Sam a bacon and ham dinner. Spencer and Freddie were also invited. Carly had been throwing herself into this little dinner party and went all out on the bacon and ham theme. Bacon and ham tartlet appetizers made with crescent roll dough, cheddar cheese, bacon and ham. Then a chef salad, heavy on the ham. The main course was a huge honey glazed ham and baked potatoes with sour cream and loads of bacon bits. A lovely walnut bacon vegetable combo with parmesan cheese for a side dish completed the main course. For dessert Carly had really outdone herself. She found a recipe for bacon pumpkin pie and served it with candied bacon ice cream! They all rolled away from the table feeling like pigs, pun intended, and even Sam had had enough pork in one meal. Her taste buds were very happy but at the moment her stomach was a bit too full to be happy. Her heart was the most unhappy though. She had been hoping something would come of kissing Freddie again last night. It had been a long time since they shared their first kiss out on his fire escape and both had grown and matured. Last nights kiss had been nothing like their first kiss. That first kiss was strange and uncomfortable and really nothing more than pressing their lips together without really even moving them. The way you'd kiss your grandmother, only longer. Last nights kiss had changed Sam's world, apparently it hadn't done the same for Freddie. He seemed unaffected. They'd aced the dance test, hung out with Carly at her place, bickered a bit, threw out ideas for iCarly while helping Carly prepare dinner and made plans for Saturday afternoon together. All very normal, nothing unusual or romantic there.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

"I just can't quite get it to look right. Carly, you don't look natural there." Freddie said.

"Of course I don't look natural here, I'm upside down!" she exclaimed. They had spent a few hours trying to rig up something to make it look like Carly was swinging on a swing that was 'hanging' from the floor up towards the ceiling – an upside down swing. But they were having trouble getting Carly to look like gravity was reversed while hanging on the underside of the swings seat. They were in no hurry, they still had plenty of time to make it look right before the next webcast. "Let's wrap up, guys. I've got to get ready for my date. Logan and I are going to a beach party with his family."

"Do you mind if I hang around and watch tv here?" begged Sam. "My mom didn't pay the cable bill and we've got like 3 fuzzy channels right now."

"It's fine with me, just don't record over Spencer's Celebrities Underwater again or he'll put itching powder in your shoes. Trust me, you do not want to have itching powder in your shoes!" Carly warned her. "Spencer ordered it from the back of a magazine not only does it really work but it's hard to wash off!"

"I think I'll do a bit more 'Frediting' on the new short film we've started. And Carly's right about that itching powder. Spencer put some in my shampoo and now my mom is convinced I have lice because I keep scratching my head. I'm going to have to pay Spencer back for this one!" he added as he left.

Sam helped Carly get ready for her date but mostly helped by just keeping her company, what did Sam know about girly clothes and make up? She did let Carly play beauty parlor a bit with Sam and let her put some blush and lip gloss on Sam. They felt weird and noticing herself in the mirror she thought they looked even weirder, she wasn't a make up wearing girly sort of girl, she was Sam. Logan picked up Carly and Sam stretched out on the couch to watch some television. After so many nights of dancing it seemed strange and lonely to be just watching tv, basically doing nothing. She could do without the dancing in school and she could even do without the dancing in the studio but she was missing Freddie. Why hadn't he said anything about kissing? It had been two days now. Sam figured to him it was just any old kiss, nothing special. That hurt. Sam wanted to be special to him. She shut the tv off, she wasn't really watching it any way. She wandered around the apartment looking at Spencer's things; the bottle bot, his monster sized plastic monkeys, the bowling ball sculpture, the huge Gummi bear and old radios. She didn't want to be alone. Maybe she'd feel less alone up in the studio, it was time for dance practice. They were done with dance but Sam felt compelled to go to the studio. She was wishing it was time to practice with Freddie instead of doing nothing all by herself. As she started up the steps she heard a faint sound. As she walked into the studio she couldn't believe her eyes, every surface in the studio was covered with flickering votive candles and the walls and ceiling were covered in twinkling white lights. The sound she had heard was the gentle strain of music filling the studio. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Freddie standing in the middle of the room in his handsome iCarly awards tuxdeo. When she stepped into the room he held out his hand, silently asking for a dance. Sam was in shock.

"How long have you been waiting for me?" she asked.

Freddie looked a bit sheepish as he answered "About two years."

Wait, what? she thought. He hasn't been standing there in a tuxedo for two years. He's been waiting for me for two years? It took her a confused moment to figure out he meant that he's been waiting for her to realize her feelings for him for two years. He's felt like this about me for two years and knew I felt the same and has just been waiting and waiting for me? No one had ever done anything so selfless for her before, she was amazed at the depth of his patience and resolve to let her realize her feelings without pushing. The gray sad evening suddenly sparkled ahead of her, and not just that evening but beyond. If Freddie was willing to wait two whole years to make things right for Sam to recognize her feelings then she had to admit to herself that he wasn't likely to do anything to hurt her. Maybe, just maybe there was another person in this world that Sam could trust.

"Are we going to dance?" Freddie asked, his hand still held out to Sam.

"Eventually" she said with a smile and she stepped up to Freddie and wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for the sweetest and longest kiss of his life, so far any way.

Hours later Carly came home from her beach party. She'd had a great time with Logan and his family. Sitting around the bonfire with Logan wrapped around her to keep her warm was wonderful. She felt bad leaving Sam here alone, she had seemed depressed most of the day. Carly didn't know what was wrong. Now that she was home from her date she was looking to see if Sam was still there so she could press her friend for details. Maybe Carly could help her with whatever the problem was. She heard music coming from the studio. Was Sam up there listening to music? She went up the steps to check on her friend. She stopped in her tracks as she came around the corner. Sam was not alone and was not looking depressed in the least. She and Freddie were dancing again. And not just dancing, they would take a few dance steps, give a quick kiss, take a few more steps, kiss again. The song ended and her two best friends started to kiss with some passion. They came up for air when the next song started up and they started to dance again. Carly slowly backed out of the room. She smiled and headed to bed knowing her best friend had learned to trust another person in her life. Freddie was the perfect boyfriend for her. He was a caring guy that would understand many of her odd behaviors and not be repelled by them, maybe even help her face some of her demons.

Up in the studio as they danced, just holding each other and swaying with the music, Sam had to ask, she needed to hear it. "Freddie, what now?"

"If it's ok with you I'd like to date you. Be your boyfriend." he answered.

Sam was startled by his answer. "Why? After all I have done to you why would you want to have me for your girlfriend?" she was confused.

"Because I love you." he said.

"I don't deserve you." she admitted. "I, uh.. I'm scared, Freddie. I don't want to get hurt."

He stopped dancing and took both her hands in his and looked her right in the eye. "I would never, ever hurt you, Sam. And I'm scared too. We can go as slow as you want. I'd feel less scared if we went slow too. I'm willing to give us a chance, I think we're worth the risk. I know you are worth it. While we are really getting to know each other, slowly, we can go out and have fun too. Or even stay in and have fun! Care to join me for dinner and a movie at my place tomorrow evening? My mom won't be home from work until nearly 8pm, we'll have the place to ourselves. We could have breakfast for dinner, pancakes and lots and lots of bacon." he offered, tempting her.

"Ok, I'd like that, all of that. Slow sounds good, so does breakfast for dinner tomorrow, just the two of us. And maybe a few slow dances for dessert?" she asked.

"Maybe a few more slow dances right now." Freddie suggested as he slid his hands around Sam's waist to pull her in close for more dancing, and more kissing, of course!


End file.
